WASHINGTON (AP) - Just as millions head to tanning beds to prepare for spring break, the Food and Drug Administration will be debating how to toughen warnings that those sunlamps pose a cancer risk.

Yes, sunburns are particularly dangerous. But there's increasing scientific consensus that there's no such thing as a safe tan, either.

This is a message that Katie Donnar, 18, dismissed until a year ago when, preparing for the Miss Indiana pageant, she discovered a growth on her leg _ an early-stage melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

She can't prove tanning beds are to blame, but started using them as a sixth-grade cheerleader, says she stepped under the bulbs about every other day during parts of high school, and at one point even owned one. No more.

The Board Voted 9-0 to Approve the Proposed Regulations.

Columbia, MD November 10, 2009, 8:40pm – Tonight the Howard County Board of Health voted unanimously to approve regulations to ban individuals under the age of 18 from using indoor tanning devices. Howard County is now the first jurisdiction in the country to provide comprehensive protection for children against the dangers of indoor tanning.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), has unequivocally linked sunbed tanning among young people to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

There's nothing wrong with your natural skin tone: It shows you're smart about sun protection, which will keep you looking younger longer. But for people who want some color without sacrificing their skin, sunless tanning lotions and sprays provide a safe option. And they don't make you look orange like they used to.

Is your child spending afternoons basking in the sun covered in tanning lotion?  Is he or she going to the local tanning salon to "get some color?"  It may seem like just another example of teenage vanity, but this behavior is dangerous.  Here's why.

Tanning Beds are not the Answer to Winter Depression

With the dark days of winter upon us, many are heading to tanning salons as the solution for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a.k.a. winter depression which is believed to affect approximately 15 million Americans. Tanning salons tout their services as a treatment for SAD, though the ultraviolet radiation (UVR) they produce is not a component of light therapy, the most effective treatment.